Smithers Lake is a lake in Fort Bend County, Texas

Fort Bend County, Texas

Fort Bend County is a county located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. In 2000 its population was 354,452, while the 2010 U.S...

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It is located ten miles (16 km) southeast of Richmond

Richmond, Texas

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,081 people, 3,413 households, and 2,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,975.4 people per square mile . There were 3,595 housing units at an average density of 965.3 per square mile...

. It is near the Brazos River

Brazos River

The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers , is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a drainage...

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The project is owned and operated by NRG Energy

NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, near Princeton.-Electrical Power Generation Operations:...

as the cooling-water supply for a steam-electric generating station, W. A. Parish Electric Generating Station. It was previously owned by the Houston Lighting and Power Company. Construction was started on August 22, 1956, and was completed on July 1, 1957. Water had already been impounded in a small lake, and the date for beginning of impoundment in the new lake was October 15, 1957.